A conversion rate of 2.62% for the main goal of your website does not indicate that 2.62% of people converted. Rather, it means that 2.62% of total visits included a goal completion.
The implication is therefore that your conversion rate could be decreasing while the actual performance of your website for that goal is improving. If more visits are required for a goal completion but the goal completion is ultimately taking place, your website is doing its job.
A less ambiguous metric is goal completions. This is an absolute number that requires little interpretation (although we always need to keep in mind that a significant number of website visits could result in phone and brick-and-mortar conversions).
Does this mean that we should ignore conversion rate? Surely not, but we do need to remember how it’s calculated.
In future posts, we’ll look at ways you can further analyze and better understand your goal conversion rates.
